Hands are Meant to Make
Growing up, I didn’t play make believe or make much of anything. Are you surprised to learn this about me? I chose to learn to play as an adult and it’s been such a gift. As I sit down to create curriculum for the upcoming iteration of the Polyvagal Theory “workshops”, I am listening in for how to integrate the feedback I have received from past courses about wanting more prescribed practices or protocols. When I receive feedback requesting more prescribed practices or protocols, it’s a sign to me that my curriculum may not meet your current goals.
You might also be surprised to know that I dropped out of pharmacy school in 2011. Prescriptions have a place - primarily for acute/chronic conditions that cannot be managed with gentler remedies like herbs or movement or shifts in the foods we consume. Protocols are the outcome of a medical system rooted in evidence-based medicine (EBM). While EBM has vastly improved the quality of our decisions about how to diagnose and treat various constellations of symptoms, the process of EBM is flawed and in a process of continuous improvement. Why is it flawed? So many reasons. For one, the translation of data from a highly controlled environment into your human body will inherently not translate in a one to one relationship ever. It’s rooted in statistics (risks and potential). Another reason EBM is flawed, the sample population cannot truly represent the cellular expression that is you - wonderful YOU!
My aim in sharing the scientific wisdom of the Polyvagal Theory is to empower YOU to express YOU as YOU are meant to be expressed. The unconditioned human that arrived on this planet with the genetic know how to be a fully connected and messy human. The lifelong process is to see the conditioning clearly and then choose to maintain some of the conditioning to function as a citizen and to (slowly) let go of the conditioning that is preventing your fullest expression. Why slowly? It’s the only way to make sustainable change. A garden appears to bloom overnight, but so much led to the blooming beauty.
The curriculum aims to reach humans seeking fuller self-expression via the model of the Polyvagal Theory (nervous system) through action: MAKE, MOVE and MOTIVATE. This curriculum is well suited to those seeking:
To understand the Polyvagal Theory from a scientific perspective with attention to the suffering all humans experience
To learn a process rooted in meditation and physiological check-ins to identify the next action (MAKE, MOVE, MOTIVATE)
To innovatively create unique practices for self and be celebrated in this endeavor by community
I believe you have everything you need to heal.
I believe hands are meant to make.
I believe bodies are meant to move.
I believe that inquiry motivates us.